Our friend and fearless investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson has an op-ed in yesterday’s edition of The Hill newspaper that lays out in simple terms why the FBI and Department of Justice cannot be trusted to investigate themselves in the matter of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses documented by the Nunes memo – conflicts of interest.

Attkisson pointed out that the criminal referral targeting Christopher Steele, author of the Trump “dirty dossier,” we reported on a week ago has a deeper significance than what first meets the eye.

The criminal referral sent to the Department of Justice by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) highlights the deep conflicts of interest questions emerging in the FISA abuse investigations:

The Steele criminal referral in essence asks the FBI to investigate a source with whom FBI officials collaborated, and whose evidence they used in a fashion that’s under congressional investigation.

The referral was addressed to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who himself signed at least one of the questionable wiretap applications using the Steele dossier.

It was also addressed to FBI Director Christopher Wray whose choice for general counsel, Dana Boente, also signed at least one of the wiretap applications. Boente replaced James Baker, a confidante of former FBI Director James Comey, who signed three of the wiretap applications. (Baker was reassigned in December after questions arose about leaks promoting the anti-Trump material in the dossier. Last June, Comey admitted that he secretly orchestrated a leak to the press to prompt a special counsel investigation of any Trump-Russia ties. Robert Mueller was appointed two days later.)

Attkisson says other potential conflicts of interest became apparent when senators Grassley and Graham asked the FBI for permission to release the Steele criminal referral last month. Grassley says the FBI stonewalled — then claimed that unclassified information was actually classified and said it could not be released.

Unlike the House of Representatives, which has processes allowing members to release formerly classified material without FBI approval, Attkisson notes the Senate requires the FBI’s permission.

Even though he clearly violated FBI and Department of Justice procedures in signing at least three FISA warrant applications, fired FBI Director and potential perjurer James Comey is being made into a hero by the Left and to the astonishment of many who have followed this case, he has been hired to teach a course on ethics at Virginia’s prestigious College of William and Mary.

Politically tainted FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has announced his retirement and is now on a taxpayer-funded two-month vacation before leaving government employment with full benefits, he likewise clearly violated what are known as the “Woods Procedures” to ensure that information used to justify spying on Americans is thoroughly vetted.

Then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who later served as Acting Attorney General until she was fired for insubordination over the Trump immigration Executive Order, joined Georgetown University's law school. Yates serves as the law school’s "Distinguished Lecturer from Government."

Then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana James Boente has now been picked to become the new FBI general counsel, a foolish personnel decision that puts him in the position to continue to stonewall and obstruct the investigation of the conspiracy against President Trump.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who signed at least one of the FISA warrant application, and thus swore under oath to the veracity of the information presented, is now the number two appointee at the Department of Justice. Rosenstein supervises the Mueller investigation that was put in motion after the firing of James Comey to investigate the allegations arising out of the tainted FISA warrants he swore out.

Then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr was reassigned and demoted but is still employed by the Department of Justice and is on track to retain his lucrative federal job and benefits.

FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who violated DOJ and FBI policy by conducting an extra-marital affair with FBI lawyer Lisa Page is the author of the infamous “insurance policy” text message:

I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s [Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe] office that there’s no way he [Trump] gets elected – but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.

Strzok was the Chief of the Counterespionage Section during the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server. Strzok rose to become the Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division and was the top FBI agent working on Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation before being reassigned to the Personnel Division when the substance of his texts with page became public. He like Bruce Ohr, is still on the government payroll and on track to retain all of his retirement benefits.

Bill Priestap, then head of the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Division, is the person, according to the testimony of James Comey, who made the decision to keep the FBI's alleged “counterintelligence” operation against Trump and his associates secret, even from the heads of the Congressional Intel Committees who are supposed to be briefed on such matters. Priestap supervised FBI employees Peter Strzok and Bruce Ohr and reported up the chain of command to Comey, McCabe, Sally Yates and Obama-era Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Priestap approved the background documents used in FISA warrant preparation, gave approval for the use of the Steele dossier and was also directly involved in the surveillance and investigation of Michael Flynn.

Priestap seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth and may or may not be cooperating with the Department of Justice Inspector General or congressional investigators.

Clearly, the FISA process is only as good as the people who participate in its processes. If the Lois Lerner “no one is responsible” scenario is allowed to playout again in the Trump surveillance case, then the Deep State will win again.

We do NOT need a special counsel. We need to see Trump through his Attorney General perform the management function of his office and clean up the Department of Justice. That's his responsibility and his authority. It appears that the Inspector General is capable of handling it and that's what the position was created to do. Special Counsels are a very expensive and dangerous joke over which there is no control.